Impact of COVID-19 on Waiting Passenger Distribution on a Bus Rapid Transit Station Platform in Brisbane, Australia.

Abstract

The operation of a bus rapid transit (BRT) station platform is a key factor that affects BRT system performance. As waiting passengers occupy more platform space than circulating passengers, evaluation of their distribution across the platform is important. Public transport systems have been affected by the global pandemic Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This may have affected the waiting passenger distribution on BRT platform space. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the impact of COVID-19 on waiting passenger distribution on a platform during the peak period at an important station on the BRT system in Brisbane, Australia. Manual data collection was carried out before COVID-19 and during COVID-19. Waiting passenger counts in each case were evaluated separately to identify variation across the platform. The total waiting passenger count on the platform at a given time reduced significantly during COVID-19. To compare the two cases, data sets were normalized, and statistical analysis performed. The test results indicated that the distribution of waiting passengers during COVID-19 has significantly changed, bringing more waiting passengers into the platform center than the two ends, whereas before COVID-19, more waiting passengers were observed at the upstream half of the platform. There was also greater temporal variation across the whole platform during COVID-19. These findings were used to postulate the reasons behind the changes resulting from COVID-19, which affected platform operation.